Our First Christmas together

Merry Christmas!!!!

As our first Christmas together, we wanted to start a tradition. We believe the true meaning of Christmas is to give, not receive - so we decided to volunteer together on a yearly basis.

I searched online and signed up for Meals on Wheels program at the Woodgreen Community Center (Pape and Queen). The purpose is to deliver meals to the elderly in that area and to chat with them briefly, show them that there is still love in this world. We woke up bright at early on Christmas day (despite our colds...) and went downtown with 3 other friends.

Each car then picked a list of addresses and the meals and off we went! We had 5 people on our list and we visited them one by one to drop off the meal, a Christmas gift and chatted with them briefly. It was unfortunate that 2 out of 5 people on our list were not home when we dropped off the meals. We would have loved to meet them and know a bit about their stories.

It was hard to find where to begin, because we had to be very careful of what we say, didn't want to remind them of any sad memories! Most of them showed sadness in their eyes, many had pictures of their family in their homes, but for whatever reason, they cannot celebrate Christmas together. It made me realize how thankful I am.

Do you realize how 'rich' we all are? Christmas had become so commercialized that we are all just scrambling to buy all the presents, making sure everyone is 'covered' and not focused on who is really in need. Christmas is also a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all to mankind. It is ironic to see all the crazy drivers who are actually less forgiving on the roads (especially when it comes to parking space). This volunteering experience has provided me another opportunity to reflect how I treat Christmas every year, where my eyes should gaze upon and who I need to give to.

I'm not saying I'm not in on this - don't get me wrong...I've been scrambling to buy all the presents too. I just wish I can get past the commercial shell of Christmas every year. But it seems like no matter how hard we try, we fail...